Monday Meandering -- 6 - 24 - 2024

It was a great week for sewing. I went to my guild's sewing day before the evening guild meeting on Wed.  I know I can't spend a whole day out and about but I did pretty well getting to the sew in a bit before 3 and getting some string blocks started. I didn't finish them because I usually use half square triangles for the corners and the ones I brought to use were too small. Bummer.  I like the fact that I always have strings and phone book papers cut to size ready to go.  It didn't take me long to pack up and go. Funny that I didn't think to put that on my goals list last week. Nonetheless, it was a great sewing week. 

6/17/24

✅Make 2 more placemats — done and turn into guild. 

✅Quilt a bit more on the seaside picture — done, still have to tie off some threads. Wait, no, I didn't finish the whole thing I just did more quilting on it! 

✅Bind string quilt — finished. 

✅Lay out the blue blocks from FCQ EQuilters and sew into top — the blocks are on the design wall. More are being made before it can be sewn into a top. 

✅Finish the inner and outer border on the stars quilt — done and returned to the guild. 

Here are some of the blocks that FCQ Equilters sent me on my last turn. I picked out the ones that had some other colors in them and then started making some more.  Does that yellow stripe one bother you?  It screams at me.  I probably will remove it and make something else to go there. (These are made in pairs so I'll probably take out both of them.) You'll be seeing more of these blocks in the future. I probably have enough for another fairly big quilt.  I'm making this the size the guild requested for seniors -- 40" x 60". 

One goal I really wanted to get done was finish the star quilt for Virginia Star Guild. You can read the background story here and here. All I had left to do was to put the borders on, one with mitered corners. Ugh. I used the 6.5" cut borders that the woman who had been making the quilt had precut.  I whipped out my trusty book on making mitered corners to see how to do it. Many years ago I took a class with Susan Cleveland to learn how to do mitered corners. She had a great book, Marvelous Miters, available so I bought it for future reference.  It was pretty much easy peasy using her directions. 

I found it interesting that you can't see the miter because the border fabric is so busy.  Luckily, I will not have to quilt this one.  I can't see doing an edge to edge quilting design over those gorgeous stars. Hopefully another long armer can do a great job on it.  It's good to have this done! 

Here's what I hope to work on this week. 

6/24/24

Finish blue blocks and sew into top

Quilt one of my quilts

Bind one of my quilts

Keep working on seaside top

Cut out a kit for July retreat 

I'm glad I made it to the guild sew in last week because I always take my featherweight (FW) sewing machine since it is very portable.  Although I really like my FW unfortunately it is really slow.  I've compared my FW with friends who have them and, yep, it is s-l-o-w. Which got me to thinking about a very old Elna Carina I have.  I stapled the receipt to the instruction book so I know it will be 40 years old on July 16th. (I paid $909.48 for it.)  Within the last 10 years I had it serviced and put back into working order. Except, when I took it to a class it didn't work. I can't remember if I tried it after that day but I decided it was time to figure out what was wrong and whether hubby and I could fix it. 

Surprise, surprise! It works pretty well. Except, the light didn't work. In fact, there was no bulb in the socket. Except, there was the remnant of the bulb. Took hubby quite a while to get it out. Thanks to Amazon, a new bulb arrived the next day. Light is restored and the machine works. It's a little clunky but it definitely sews faster than my FW. I plan to take both the FW and Elna to the retreat I'm going to in July. Hubby also made wooden pieces to hold up the plastic insert I had for the sewing desk. (Don't cry -- but the insert only cost $9.00.)  Here's what it currently looks like. 

The other bonus to this machine is it is lightweight.  I think it is even lighter than the FW. I'm not sure it will last long as it really sounds like it is old when I sew. I'm happy to give it a try and hopefully it will work well for me. 

Stitching Stuff -- 

Yea me! I again was able to stitch every day.  Here are the latest numbers. 

W/ending 6/23 — 175 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/June = 23/23 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 168/175 days
• Success rate = 96%

One of these days I'll share some of the finishes I've had since the beginning of the year.  I tend to post only 1 time a week and don't want to spend anymore time.  Ok, I'm reading and sewing and knitting so why would I want to stop what I love to post something else?  To combat my inertia, I plan to write a post earlier in the week and then post it later in the week. (Don't hold your breath, I haven't done well getting a second post done this year, but I will try.)

I'm linking with these parties -- Oh Scrap, Life in Pieces, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.  Hope you find a lot of inspiration surfing this week. 

The bunny from last week has been showing up and perhaps is living under some of our bushes. He's eating the hostas.  Darn him.  Why couldn't he chomp on the little purple flowered ground cover that goes all over the place? Sigh. 

Happy Quiting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 10 - 2018

Ok, this past week zoomed by in a blur!  And, boy did that blur mess up my stitching time or so it seems.  I also decided I won't be doing a One Monthly Goal this month.  I kept trying to think of an easy, fast project and the next thing I knew I had missed the deadline.  That's one way of making a decision! 

Here's the good news though.  My Jamestown Landing quilt top is finished!  YEE HAW!  I need to find the backing and then it is going on Ruthie and getting quilted asap!  I hope I can get it on Ruthie within the week.  It may not get finished right away but I sure hope I can start it right away! Here's the left side... 

...and the right side of one end. Both of these pictures were taken while the quilt was hanging over the rails of Ruthie, the long arm. 

I did make a practice block for another quilt. I have acquired a few jelly rolls and charm packs over the years.  So I decided to see what block I could make using one of the charm packs.  It was really a half charm pack with somewhere around 20 to 25 charms.  Wonderful size for a baby quilt or possible a quilt for a child.  I decided to try a friendship star block.  Here's my sample block. I think it will finish at 9".  

I bought the darker blue in Lancaster a couple of years ago.  The background is a very light grey that I used to make Theo's quilt.  I may have to find more of it or something pretty similar.  I'll have to figure out how many charms I have.  Both the background fabric and the half triangle squares were cut with my Accuquilt Go.  (It's always nice to use dies I already have!)  This will be cut out in time to make at my retreat early in October.  Yea!  I have another idea of a project to work on then but have to plan it out a bit still. 

I wasn't too successful on my goals this week.  On the other hand I was out and about quite a bit.  Here's last weeks results. 

September 3, 2018

Review all UFOs and update spreadsheet√ started
Finish Jamestown Landing borders and apply √ YEA on to the quilting!
Prep for class in mid Sept oops!
Figure out how to enlarge purse pattern & get started on it oops again
Finish cutting pieces for Pirate Quilt√
Finish knitting on my sock ... it's the second one and halfway done Ok, some more knitting was done but not finished yet

September 10, 2018
Continue reviewing UFOs and updating spreadsheet
Prep for class in mid September 
Figure out how to enlarge purse pattern and get started!
Knit on sock 
Make a pillowcase 

Pat and I had a great time watching Ellie and Theo so that Kevin and Aimee could go out for their 7th anniversary this weekend.  It worked out pretty well as they decided to go out for an activity and then go to lunch.  We played with the kids in the morning and then they both took naps.  So Peka and Grammie weren't completely exhausted... just a bit. 

I'm linking up with my normal Monday linky parties:  Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  I'm getting pretty consistent on writing my Monday blog post on Sunday evening.  So, that explains why some of my links are not active -- the linky parties haven't started.  So, tomorrow after I work out I'll check again and see if I can activate the links.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

September's One Monthly Goal

My fall retreat is 3 weeks away.  I need to start focusing on getting my projects together.  As usual, I like to have my projects precut and ready to sew.  Here's what I'm picking for my September goal. Yep, I'll be retreating at the end of September so I should be able to get this to to top stage with no problem. 

My plan is to cut out all of the blocks, borders, and maybe even the binding before I go. I cut one block and made it up. Wait, I forgot to mention this is Quiltmaker magazine from last year.  Last year every issue had a pattern specifically designed to use AccuQuilt dies.  I really liked this pattern so earlier this year I bought the die.  Here are most of the pieces for one 8" finished block.  (It's missing the other navy blue background pieces for each unit.) 

And here's the finished block ready to be made into a quilt. Oops -- I didn't do a very good job matching the bottom center.  Hum, it wouldn't be hard to fix that.  Next time I sew maybe I'll get those sections to match up better. 

So here are some of my fabric choices.  I am thinking of making this a donation quilt for some organization.  I have purposely left out pinks so that if I donate to the neonatal unit dads will like it for their boys.  Yes, that sounds a bit sexist but according to my friend who is a neonatal nurse and hands these quilts out Dads don't want anything to do with pink quilts if it's for a boy.  And, statistically there are more boys in NeoNatal units than girls.  So I try to make more quilts for boys. It's hard to see some of the cute novelty fabric -- golf tees and balls, baseballs, monkeys wearing pirate hats, cherries, stars, cats and hens to name a few. 

Lots going on in the picture.  I'm trying to coordinate the colors as the magazine picture shows. The two colors in the blocks are very similar.... hum, honestly, that did not happen in my sample block at all.  And, it isn't looking all that close in the row of fabric under the block.  Ignore the far left fabric -- it is the navy blue background. I still need to pick the rest of the go with fabrics for the quilt.  And then I have some serious cutting to do.  

This isn't going to be enough for 3 full days of sewing.  I'll pick a few other things to do.  Maybe I'll work on a UFO too or maybe an easy kid's quilt.  I'll keep you posted. 

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts one monthly goal setting post, To-Do Tuesday,  Mid Week Makers, and Wednesday Wait Loss.  (The ones that aren't up will be linked up after they post! You know the drill. I have to remember to link up but hopefully I will look everything over Wednesday sometime!) 

That's it from me today.  I finished 8 pillowcases that are going in the mail after they are washed, dried, and ironed. I'm ready to cut some RSC orange and get those stars cut out.  Always something to keep me busy. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 3 - 27 - 2017

I started a new quilt yesterday.  Yep, I've been finishing or moving along UFOs quite a bit over the last three months.  But you see that button Hands 2 Help?  I volunteered to make a quilt to send to International Institute St. Louis whose mission is to help immigrants and their families become productive Americans and champion ethnic diversity as a cultural and economic strength.  I feel making a quilt for this organization will help to counter growing negativity towards immigrants in America. I realized they would prefer a twin size quilt.  Yikes, that's a lot of work to make one -- especially if it needs to be done by mid May.  

But, on rereading the info on Hands 2 Help I realize I have the date a bit earlier than the mailing date of June 2 or so.  Phew.  I had fallen in love with Sarah's first Stunning Stars quilt called Scrappy Stars.  Take a minute to go look at her quilt and some of the quilts that inspired her at her blog, Confessions of A Fabric Addict.   🎵♪🎵🎵♪  Ok, are you back? Isn't that a great quilt? So I did a little blog surfing to see some other examples of great star quilts with either 9 patches or a variety of patches.  Here's my version drawn in EQ but the coloring is very questionable although I hope to use those colors in the real version. 

My plan is to use navy blue solid for the stars, with the other blocks to be 9 patches except I was going to plop whatever color patch I have into the blocks. According to EQ this will be 68 x 92" I had a slightly smaller version that was going to use 425 4"  blocks for the 9 patches.  I'm sure I'll have to cut even more. I've got 100 4" blocks and all of the navy blue blocks and half square triangles done.  

Unfortunately, I've actually gone through at least half of the fabrics I've pulled for the quilt.  YIKES! On the other hand, I only pulled fabrics from my fat quarter collection so I still have yardage I can hit up.  Knowing I want these fabrics to be totally mixed up I don't plan on starting the project until every thing is all cut out.  Needless to say this is going to be great for my fabric usage when I'm done with this one. 

That's my plan for Hands 2 Help.  Do you want to make a quilt too?  It isn't too late to join in.  Click on the link above and see what is involved and, did I mention there are some prizes?  Nothing like prizes (and a good cause) to motivate me!  

Here's last week's goals.  Not bad but I must get that tangram block done!

March 20, 2017

Sash and border the Tisket a Tasket blocks√

Continue making zippered pouches (more zippers have been ordered)√

Work on a new hat for Natalie √

Make tangram block (What can I say I’m not motivated on this one!)

Figure out what to do next on the stripe challenge blocks√

And, now what I hope to accomplish this week. 

March 27, 2017

Make more pouches

Continue cutting fabric for Hands 2 Help Quilt

Continue knitting on Natalie’s hat

Make tangram block

Plan quilting for A Tisket, A Tasket quilt

Make a few more blocks for the stripe challenge blocks

That's it for me.  I'm linking up with Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward when it is posted.  Enjoy some tea and browse these great sites.  

Happy Quiting All! Bonnie